The 27th game of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be played between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad on 12th March at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.
Match Preview
It really feels like both SRH and PBKS have swapped places from last year. This year, Punjab Kings have been on fire, rising and winning, while SRH are yet to impress the fans after winning the first game of the current season.
Punjab Kings have the quickest scoring run rate, barring Lucknow Super Giants, while Hyderabad have lost the most wickets in the powerplay so far.
Punjab is finding a new hero in every game, meanwhile Hyderabad is still searching for one. To make matters worse, Punjab currently has the best batting average this season, while Hyderabad has the second-worst batting average among a team’s top three.
Talking about Punjab Kings, they are rattling the record books this season. At this point, it seems they have finally found their groove. One of the top reasons for that has been Priyansh Arya, the latest IPL sensation, who has been the player of the match for the side in their last three games.
Besides him, skipper Shreyas Iyer has been on fleek as well, having scored 168 runs at a strike rate of 200 in just four games.
Meanwhile, the team will be hoping that Yuzvendra Chahal gets his groove back, as he has been wicketless in the last three games.
Talking about SRH, their performance has been below par. After finishing as runners-up in the last edition, the expectations from them were high. With a top three consisting of Head, Sharma, and Kishan, the team has not lived up to expectations so far.
The bowling has been questionable as well, with SRH bowlers recording the worst economy rate (10.73) and the highest bowling average (41.47) in the tournament. The performance of the skipper has also not been convincing. Compared to his economy rate of 7.30 during the first five games of the previous season, he has been leaking runs at an average of 11.16 per over this season.
But the main question is: can Cummins and his side improve their numbers and finally register a win before their home ground?
Probable Playing XIIs:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Kamindu Mendis, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Zeeshan Ansari, 10 Jaydev Unadkat/Harshal Patel, 11 Mohammed Shami, 12 Simarjeet Singh/Rahul Chahar
Punjab Kings: 1 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 2 Priyansh Arya, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nehal Wadhera, 5 Shashank Singh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Lockie Ferguson, 12 Yash Thakur
Pitch and weather report:
Hyderabad has been a batter’s paradise. In the last ten games played here, the average first innings score has been an incredible 213. Sixty percent of the games have been won by teams that bat first. Therefore, winning the toss and scoring a large sum might be the wisest course of action.
Prior to the game, there have been some thunderstorms, wind gusts, and rain. The good news is that Saturday night is predicted to be rain-free.
Head-to-head record:
Punjab Kings have faced Sunrisers Hyderabad 23 times. PBKS has won 7 games, but SRH leads with 16. SRH has won four of the last five meetings, while Punjab has won one.
Prediction:
Given PBKS have been in great form and SRH yet to win their second game of the tournament, Punjab are favourites to win the upcoming game of the season.
Where to Watch:
India: Star Sports Network, JioHotstar
Australia: Kayo TV, FoxTel Go
Bangladesh: T Sports, Toffee app
New Zealand: Sky Sports NZ
South Africa: SuperSport
Sri Lanka: Dialog
UK: Sky Sports, SkyGo
USA: Willow TV
Afghanistan: ATN
MENA: Cricbuzz
